New Augusta/Aiken Book

[BCrosby]

I ran across a new book titled "Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age" by Stan Byrdy (that's not a typo).

It focuses on golf in Augusta and Aiken from about 1900 until the openning of AGNC.

There are some interesting pictures of the Augusta CC Lake Course (probably remodeled by Raynor) that George Bahto might want to check out.

There is also a chapter on Palmetto CC with some old aerials.

Finally, there are some close-up pictures of several greens at ANGC taken very soon after it opened. I had not seen these before. The photos of no. 2 and no. 4 greens I would not have recognized as being at ANGC. Amazing how little of the the original MacK remains. At least w/respect to those greens.

This is not primarily an architecture book. Lots of text about PGA, LPGA and amateur events in the area up until about 1930.

(A side note. Included is a picture of Craig Wood just after impact. One of the longest and most underrated players from the era. His swing is magnificent. It alone is worth the price of the book. He had a great career. Why he didn't win more championships is beyond me.)

The tidbits and photos of old courses (especially ANGC) in Augusta and Aiken are fascinating and would be interest to many regulars here.

Bob  

[BCrosby]

I can't stop thinking about the photos of the greens at no. 2 and no. 4 at ANGC.

Because both greens area in low, wooded areas, neither is easy to see from the aerials taken at the time the course opened. Thus I didn't know what these particular greens looked like until now.

No. 2 had a single front bunker, located in the center of the approach. It may be the most bizarre looking bunker I've ever seen. It was in a large U shape, with the top right corner of the U shortened slightly. The top left corner of the U went right up to the fringe of the green. There was grass in the middle of the U. Very strange. And beautiful.

No. 4 was apparently designed to have a boomerang green. A less extreme version of the original shape of no. 9 green. You wouldn't have been able to putt directly at the hole from the front edge to a pin that was back right. Amazing. (Other than having two bunkers, I don't know why MacK called it an Eden hole.)

The book also has a tantalizing ground level glimpse of the original no. 7 green, i.e., before it was set on a 20 foot pad by Maxwell. You can't see much, though.

Bob  

[Dunlop_White]

Bob,

Could you either post the ANGC photos of Holes No. 2 and 4 or send them my way via email.

Thanks!

Dunlop

[ChipOat]

BCrosby:

Amazon.com shows this book as "paperback" for $19.99.

The price doesn't scare me but is the presentation still OK in paperback?

For 20 bucks it must be a pretty decent production.

[BCrosby]

Dunlop -

I'll give it a try.

Bob

[Brock Peyer]

A friend of mine gave it to me for Christmas, he is close friends with Stan and helped on the project.  It is a great book and from what I understand Stan is working on another book on the area on more recent history.  Stan used to be a sportscaster in Augusta.   I would highly recommend it.

[MarkC]

Brock - thanks for the heads up on this awesome site. Stan's book is available at www.augustagolfbook.com. The book is a paperback, but it a very high quality one. Contact me at mark.childress@level3.com if you have questions or want to reach Stan. You can also order books by contacting me at that email address and I can get Stan to sign the book and personalize it for you - same cost...
The "early-day" pictures from the National that are in the book are just a few of what Stan has. I think he has pictures of like 15 of the 18 holes from that time. Stan and I are also working on a video companion to the book as well as a website where you can order photos from the book. Again, contact me with questions.

[Brock Peyer]

MarkC is my friend who helped with the book.

Words of wisdom:  Always take a coat with you to Denver in January.

[Dunlop_White]

Bob,

I'll eventually get the book, so please don't go to any trouble.

The more vintage material which I find depicts a golf course which I am unfamiliar with.  

[BCrosby]

Dunlop -

I hesitated posting the pictures because of copyright issues. After chewing it over last night, I think it best that people buy the book. It's worth every penny.

Please note, though, that it is not primarily a book about golf course architecture. So fair warning to the purist gca book collectors out there.

I finished reading it last night. Byrdy, the author, provides a number of fascinating historical tidbits. For example, almost all greens in the SE before about 1925 were sand. There are lots of pictures of sand greens in the book. They were built using hard-packed clay soil with a thin layer of fine sand on the surface. My guess is that they weren't that bad to putt on.

But what caught my attention was Byrdy's statement that you could not approach these greens from the air. If you did, the ball would bound over the green off the hardpan clay undersurface. You had to approach them from the ground; only bump and run shots would hold the green.

(Bobby Jones grew up playing on sand greens. I wonder if that wasn't part of the reason why he felt so a home playing links courses in Scotland?)

At any rate, a fun little book that I heartily recommend.

Bob